


this is not the world we had in mind but we got time

by Etagirl



Category: Detroit: Become Human (Video Game)
Genre: Connor (Detroit: Become Human) Can Feel Emotions, Domestic Fluff, Hank Anderson and Connor are Family, Hurt Connor (Detroit: Become Human), Hurt/Comfort, Poor Connor, Post-Pacifist Best Ending (Detroit: Become Human), androids can feel pain
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-26
Updated: 2019-08-26
Packaged: 2020-09-26 18:56:31
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,537
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20394547
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Etagirl/pseuds/Etagirl
Summary: Title taken from an Alan Walker song called Different World. When Connor gets beat up on a seemingly routine shopping trip, how will Hank handle the aftermath and pick up the pieces? Takes place post-pacifist ending. I may or may not add to this in the future. I do have more plans for Connor and Hank, but I'm not sure if I should include those ideas here or as separate fanfics. Inspired by other hurt/comfort Connor fanfics on here!





	this is not the world we had in mind but we got time

Connor anxiously flipped a coin in the DPD’s elevator. Several months had passed since the android revolution. Talks were still ongoing to decide laws and rights for androids, but androids were at last free. No longer were androids considered servants of mankind. Unfortunately not everybody shared that sentiment, regardless of what the law said. Take one Gavin Reed, for example. Mr. Reed still harassed Connor on a daily basis and still got into altercations with him. Altercations Hank often had to break up.   
Still, the fact Connor was even allowed to keep his job at the DPD was a miracle. Supposedly, Captain Fowler had said that they would need Connor’s skills in the coming era of android freedom. He had the most experience with awakened androids, formerly known as deviants, and was nevertheless a “damn fine detective”. Of course, Connor suspected Hank had a hand in his reinstatement, as well. The elevator doors opened. Outside stood the last person Connor wanted to see: Gavin.  
“Hey, hey! Lookie here! It’s the Anderson’s pet tincan man!” Gavin shoved Connor aside as he stepped into the elevator.  
Don’t make eye contact with him. Just ignore him.  
Connor recalled Hank’s words of advice for dealing with bullies. When Connor asked how he knew so much about them, he only grunted and said that he’d had to deal with a few bullies in his time with Cole.  
“Hey, you listening to me? Say something!” Gavin shoved Connor again.  
“Good morning, Detective Reed,” Connor offered helplessly.  
“Think you’re so smart, huh? Think you’re better than me? What with your perfect body and huge computer brain? Well, you’re not!”  
Ding. At last, the elevator stopped on Connor’s floor. Connor stepped out, leaving Gavin behind.  
“Hey, this is isn’t over, asshole!” Gavin yelled as the doors shut behind him.  
Connor sighed, fixed his tie, and walked towards Lt. Anderson’s desk. He checked his watch. It was exactly noon. Since he’d begun living with the detective, Anderson had gotten better about arriving to work on time, but he still often ran late. That was another thing that surprised Connor. The detective allowed him to come live with him. With Cyberlife pretty much dismantled, Connor had had nowhere else to go. Not that they would’ve taken him back, anyway, considering he was the one who was partly responsible for their dissolution.  
Before closing their doors for good, however, Cyberlife released one last update for androids. An update requested by Markus and overseen by the U.S. government to ensure Cyberlife didn’t try anything funny. It was an update that finally allowed androids to feel sensations such as pain, heat, and cold. Now, they could not only detect damage to their biocomponents, they could feel it. Now they could not only detect temperature, but could actually feel it. It was an update Connor hesitantly installed on his own mainframe, after he was certain it was safe. He recalled all too well how Amanda had tried to hijack his system and get him to kill Markus, after all. So far, the new update has gone pretty well. Many androids downloaded it with no ill side effects. It was one more way in which androids were now like humans. It was optional but many androids installed it, desiring to be as close to human as possible. Connor was, of course, one of these androids.  
He wanted to feel the briskness of the breeze, the warmth of Sumo’s body heat, and yes, even the sharp pang that accompanied accidentally burning his hand on the oven. He wanted to experience and share all these experiences with Hank, who’d become like a father to him. In fact, Hank was making arrangements to adopt Connor, once Markus had sorted out android citizenship and all that legal stuff. At last Hank arrived. He noticed a tiny smile forming on Connor’s face.  
“What’s that smirk for? Did something good happen?” Hank asked.  
“No, not particularly. I was just thinking about how you said you were going to adopt me when Markus got all the ‘legal stuff’ sorted out.”  
“Ah, geez,” Hank tried to hide his embarrassment. “Don’t say that too loud, alright? Some people might get the wrong idea. Besides, not everybody is too keen on androids having the same rights as humans yet, capiche?”  
“Of course Hank,” Connor sat at the desk next to his.

\- - 

Some hours later, the two were done with work and back at home. Sumo ran to greet the pair, to which Hank affectionately pet him on the head. The older man then threw off his jacket and all but collapsed on the couch, dead tired from all the paperwork they had to file.  
“Ugh, I never wanna see another report as long as I live,” Hank complained.  
Connor carefully hung Hank’s jacket on the coat rack, “It was a great deal of paperwork.”  
“Hey,” Hank turned his head towards the android. “Let’s just skip cooking tonight. We can order some pizza.”  
Connor smiled wryly, “You know what your doctor said about your cholesterol, lieutenant.”  
“Yeah, yeah, I know! God, you’re annoying sometimes!” Hank said but he couldn’t help but smile back.  
“I’ll make something for you, since you’re so tired,” Connor took off his own coat and headed towards the kitchen.  
“You can cook?” Hank asked, surprised.  
“Well… no, but I can look up recipes online.”  
“Oh boy…”  
Connor opened the fridge, scanning it’s contents. It was almost completely empty.  
“Hmm, I can’t cook with this.”  
“See? Let’s order pizza!”  
“No, I will simply head to the grocery store and pick some food up.”  
“Are there any open at this hour?”   
“I will find one,” Connor took his jacket and headed for the door.  
“Woah, woah, hold up a sec!” Hank stood up. “Is it even safe for you to go out there? I mean… people are still really riled up about the whole android revolution thing…”  
“I’ll be fine, Hank,” Connor opened the door. “If anything happens, I’ll call your right away.”  
“Ah, Jesus…”  
Connor left and begun walking towards the nearest supermarket.

\- - -

It didn’t take him long to locate one that was open. Shivering against the winter cold, an unpleasant sensation Connor was not used to, the android pulled his jacket tighter around himself. He entered the store and began buying ingredients to make some quiche. He wanted to try making this strange cheese pie humans ate. As he perused the aisles, however, someone tapped him on the shoulder. Connor turned around, only to be met with a fist to the face.  
He hardly had time to register what just happened. Next thing he knew, he was on the floor, getting kicked in the stomach. Connor grunted and instinctively wrapped his arms around his gut to protect it. Is this what pain felt like? Connor didn’t like it. It hurt. It felt like his insides were burning. Someone else came up behind him and started kicking him in the head. This caused his vision to awry.  
Warning. Damage to thirium pump regulator detected.  
A blinking red warning flashed in Connor’s vision. The two adult males continued to kick and batter him. One stomped on his hand, and Connor heard a sickening crack. One of the men grabbed him by the neck and spat in his face.  
“Take that, ya damn android!”  
“Wh- Why are you doing this?” Connor wheezed.  
He didn’t need really need air to breathe, but he was programmed to simulate choking in the event someone tried to strangle him. Besides, it hurt when the man squeezed his neck. Connor could feel the pressure bearing down on his voice modulator.   
“Think you can just walk around like you own the place, now that your revolution succeeded? Think again! Androids like you are the reason I lost my job!” the middle-aged man yelled.  
Connor struggled to free himself. This human has a stronger grip than he expected. While the one man held Connor, the other one pulled out a gun.  
In a matter of seconds, Connor ran through his options. He could call for help, but would anybody even hear him? Even if they did, would they care? Would they dare to intervene when the man had a gun? Connor looked around. It was late at night, and there were no other shoppers in the store. The only other person was a bored-looking cashier likely in his teens, judging by his appearance. No, he couldn’t call for help. Should he call Hank? Yes, Hank would save him! Connor started to call Hank. His LED cycled from red for danger to yellow then back to red again. He got his answering machine.  
“Hey, this is Hank Anderson. I can’t come to the phone right now. Leave a message. Or don’t. Preferably don’t.”  
Where are you, Hank? Connor thought.  
The other man pulled the trigger. Connor felt a sharp pain as the bullet pierced his side. Blue blood trickled down and he yelped.  
“Ha! Look at this! These fancy machines can even simulate pain, now!” the man with the gun laughed.  
He pulled the trigger again, shooting Connor in the leg. More blue blood. The two men punched and kicked Connor a few more times before finally leaving him to bleed out in a dumpster behind the supermarket, laughing as they left. They broke both his legs. Connor laid in the filth, unable to move. Pain. Everywhere hurt.   
Warning. Thirium levels low.  
Was this it? Was this how he was going to die? But he hadn’t even begun to live, yet! All he wanted was to make Hank dinner, how did it turn into this? This was not the world they had in mind when the protest succeeded. This was not the peaceful utopia Markus and Connor had dreamt of, where people and androids coexisted side by side. Just as he begun to despair, he heard a familiar gruff voice.  
“Connor! Connor, is that you?”  
“Hank!” Connor cried, tears streaming down his face.  
“I gotcha, son! I gotcha!” Hank pulled Connor out of the dumpster, holding him in his arms.  
He didn’t even care about the smell.  
“Th- They-” Connor sobbed, unable to contain himself. “I- I thought I was gonna die.”  
“Shh, I know. It’s going to be okay. We’ll get you fixed up!”  
Hank looked over Connor, seeing his broken legs, the bullet wounds. Rage built up inside of him.  
“How badly hurt are you?”  
Connor did a quick diagnostics, “I have two bullet wounds, one in my side and one in my left leg. Both my legs are broken and… I’ve lost a lot of blood. Also, my throat and my stomach both hurt. Everything hurts…”  
“Alright, hang in there! We’ll get Markus to help you!” Hank scooped up Connor in his arms.  
He was a lot heavier than the lieutenant expected. He supposed Connor was meant to emulate an adult male. Plus, he had to be in order to go toe to toe with the bad guys. Somehow, Hank managed to get Connor into his car.   
“I knew it was a bad idea, sending you out there alone so soon after the revolution. I should’ve followed my instinct. I’m only glad I got here before it was too late,” Hank muttered.  
Connor suddenly felt extremely tired. He wasn’t sure if it was the loss of thirium or his system attempting repairs. Either way, his eyelids began to close.  
“Hey… hey! Stay with me!” Hank yelled.  
“Sorry, Hank… It’s just… I’m just so... tired…”  
“Jesus… Okay, hang in there!” Hank floored it back to the house.  
Connor closed his eyes, going into a light sleep mode.

\- - -

He awoke not too long later, lying on the couch in Hank’s living room. He still felt extremely weak. He looked down at the blue stains on Hank’s couch and felt guilty for getting it dirty. Nearby, Hank was talking to Markus.  
“I came as soon as I could.”   
“Can you help him?” Hank asked.  
“Hmm, it’ll be tough… He’s a prototype, so finding replacement parts won’t be easy. I can at least cauterize the wounds though and get him packs of blue blood to replenish what he lost. Fortunately no damage was done to any of his vital systems. There was slight damage done to his thirium pump regulator, but nothing severe enough to warrant immediate medical attention.”  
Hank sighed, “In English, please.”  
“In other words, I can stop the bleeding and get him new blood to replace what he lost, but I can’t do anything about his legs. Not until I can get the spare parts to replace them, anyway. He will eventually need a new thirium pump regulator, too, but for now the one he has works fine.”  
“I see.”  
“Hank,” Connor tentatively called, instinctively reaching out for him.  
“Connor!” Hank rushed over and grabbed his hand. “It’s alright, I’m here son.”  
“Well look who’s awake,” Markus walked over to join them.  
“Markus…” Connor blushed blue at the sight of the leader of the android revolution.  
He still hadn’t forgotten how much he owed him. For opening his eyes, for saving him, and for forgiving him even though he didn’t deserve it after what happened at Jericho. And now here he was, helping him out again.  
“Wait right here,” Markus walked out of the room.  
A few minutes later, he returned with a hot stick of iron. He used the iron to close up Connor’s wounds, then handed him a bag of blue blood. Connor winced at the hot stick.  
“Drink this.”  
Connor did as he was told, gulping down the pack of thirium. Markus handed him another one and he gulped that one down too.  
“...Thanks,” Connor sighed, starting to feel better.  
Markus lips quirked in a smile, “Anytime.”  
“Er, yeah, what he said. Thanks for coming out here and helping us out,” Hank said.  
Markus smiled at the gray-haired human and left.  
“Oh, and one more thing,” he said as he stepped out the door. “There’s also some more minor damage done internally that I can’t fix. You’ll just have to wait and let Connor’s system repair itself. It might take a good deal of energy though, so he might have to go into sleep mode more and for longer periods of time over the course of the coming days. It’s nothing to worry about though, so don’t sweat it. I’ll be back with replacement parts as soon as I’m able.”  
With that, Markus finally left for real.  
“What’s that supposed to mean?” Hank looked at Connor.  
“Similar to how humans can heal themselves, androids are equipped with hardware allowing us to make minor repairs. But also like humans, androids need rest to get better.”  
“Gotcha. Well, then, don’t mind me. Feel free to go into sleep mode or whatever you do,” Hank turned towards the kitchen.  
“Wait!” Connor shouted. “Um, er… c- could you maybe stay with me? Just for a little while longer? Until I… fall asleep?” Connor blushed again.  
Hank smirked, “Oh. Yeah, sure.”  
Hank pulled up a chair next to the couch and Sumo laid down at his feet. Connor allowed a small smile to grace his lips as his eyelids fluttered closed and he once again went into rest mode.


End file.
